2/25/11 - Afternoon

"Good morning, Ren!" Alicia, the PHQ receptionist, greeted with a smile. "Is that the coffee for today?"

Ren nodded as he brought up containers of coffee. "Yes, ma'am. Assault ordered two of them for today. I hope he mentioned something about it?"

Alicia nodded back. "He did, though I'm surprised he ordered two today."

"Same here," Ren responded with a shrug. Assault usually orders only one box. "Last night took a toll, huh?"

Alicia grimaced. "Yes... Everyone's on high alert. Not only is Kaiser here, but so is Lung. Troopers are being spread around the Bay to make sure we see any movement from the gangs. Earlier we see movement, the faster we can react and prepare."

"You're expecting a fight here? And you're still here?"

"Armsmaster said it was a precaution. They might not, if anything."

Ren hummed. He believed that the Empire would rather fight the ABB, now that Lung is gone. Still, Oni Lee is a monster to fight against, even if he's alone. They might not even try. There're also some rumors about how there's infighting within the Empire. It might just give the ABB some time to breathe and recover.

"Well, my cafe is still open for now. Let me know if the staff would like some coffee," Ren said before pushing up his glasses. "Considering the situation, I think I can afford to give a discount."

"Aww, how thoughtful of you!" Alicia said with a smile. "Thanks again for the coffee. I'll get this sent over to Assault."

-.-

Emily sighed as Assault brought in coffee with a cheer. Apparently, he ordered a couple of coffee boxes from the Case 52 that opened up a shop near the border of the Docks and Downtown. She nodded to Assault as he poured a cup for her.

She sighed as her body tensed after taking a sip. Armsmaster swore it wasn't tinkertech. It was just really good fucking coffee.

Around the table, she saw Vista add a ton of sugar and cream before taking hers. Clockblocker and Kid Win put two sugars, two cream. Aegis, Gallant, and Shadow Stalker drank it black. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Battery took it black as well. Triumph and Dauntless added a packet of sugar while Assault added two of each.

She let them take a few sips before she cleared her throat. All eyes were on her.

"You've all read the report. Last night, Lung rampaged in the area that bordered between ABB and Empire territory. He eventually received a change of heart. However, that's not the biggest issue. Last night, Joker also debuted, facing Purity then Gallant and Vista before escaping." Gallant and Vista nodded in confirmation. "You have a report of what happened last night in front of you."

The report mentioned that Armsmaster and Gallant fought against Lung with Purity, Menja, and Fenja. On the other hand, Kreig, Hookwolf, Stormtiger, Cricket, Night, and Fog fought against Oni Lee before Assault, Battery, and Miss Militia would join the fray, turning it into a three-way battle. The Wards focused on search and rescue, and eventually made a truce with Victor, Rune, and Othala.

"Contrary to the stoic calling cards, Joker himself is more theatrical," Gallant began. "He's emotive and willing to banter, but he's also a show-boat. He has tendencies to be flashy and seems to want some sort of challenge."

"Common among teenage parahumans," Emily said. "Drunk in their power and belief they can do whatever they want."

"However, he seems to have actual experience and skill," Armsmaster interjected. "It's hard to believe he's a new trigger, or at least new to the cape scene. Gallant's video showed deftness, skill, purpose - you can't get those without training, field experience, or some battle-Thinker powers. That's not even mentioning his parahuman powers."

"Perhaps he does have a Thinker ability?" Velocity asked. "How did he know Purity was about to kill Lung? He even teleported in time to block the laser."

Emily sighed. "On the topic of powers, these are currently what we have on him. On the order of use, he has: Master, due to change of hearts; Mover/Stranger, as we've seen him appear in the middle of the battlefield; Trump, during his fight against Purity; and another Master, due to his projections. Then, as Velocity noted, he might also have a Thinker power. From what we've seen, we're also giving his projections classifications as well. The first one, Raoul, is a Master Shaker while the second, Maria, is a Shaker."

"The healer, right?" Miss Militia asked. "Having a Ward healer would be good."

"Are we soft-selling then?" Assault asked.

Emily glanced again at the report copy before answering. "That is a conversation for later." Gallant raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Joker said he healed people already, and based on the conversation, he might be the one healing people in the hospitals."

"I do remember Amy and Vicky talking about it during lunch..." Aegis added.

"Yeah, Amy found no side-effects on any of the patients. That includes Armsmaster, Gallant, and Lung earlier today. From what she could tell, their bodies are in better condition compared to the patients in the hospitals."

"Is... Is he getting stronger?" Clockblocker asked with an incredulous face. "No way, right? He's a grab-bag, but he's still ramping up?"

"There's also the fact that he might even have other projections," Armsmaster added.

Battery grimaced. "That's a... That's a scary thought."

"So not only do we have a Master-Eidolon-lite, but he's also got other powers?" Assault said. "At least Eidolon doesn't have passives without the power he gets."

"What are his ratings?" Dauntless asked. "I don't see any in the report."

Emily nodded. "At this moment, he has Master 3 for the changes of hearts while his projections can range from 6 and 8. He has Mover 5 and Stranger 2 for his teleportation, similar to Shadow Stalker." She saw the Ward rustle at that. "Null Trump with tentative rating. Combat Thinker 1 or 2. As for his projections, Raoul is a Master 4 and Shaker 5, while Maria is Trump 1."

"Is this really a grab-bag?" Velocity asked. "There's no theme, and they all just seem too separate."

"Taking away the projection ratings, he does have them," Armsmaster answered.

"A thief theme," Assault added. "Well shit, he's a modern-day Robin Hood."

"A Robin Hood?" Vista asked. "Is he some old villain?"

"Depends on how you see it," Triumph said. "He's a legend, a character in a story, that's based in Europe. His most famous stories tend to be him stealing from the rich to give to the poor."

"That doesn't sound bad?" Clockblocker said, confused, before seeing Gallant squirm. "Ah... Um, my bad..."

Gallant sighed. "It's fine. The main problem is, how would Robin Hood know that the rich got their money improperly? He might target people that gained their money legitimately without taking advantage of people. What Robin Hood does is just self-righteous vigilantism."

"Some see that as a way of rebelling," Assault said.

"If we add his projections to these types of thieves..." Emily heard Armsmaster mutter.

She knocked on the table to bring everyone's attention.

"We're straying from the main topic," she said before flipping the page. "Assault mentioned soft-selling the Wards before, and that is the current plan. From what we've gathered about him, he's an experienced teenager in what he does." The report in front of her summarized any characteristics they managed to get. Black hair, golden-yellow eyes. Fast. Average height. Might be in high school. Lean, but slightly lanky. Won't hesitate to break the rules if it means stopping villains.

"I'd like to add that Joker does care about the well-being of others, even villains. He not only healed Menja, Fenja, and Purity, but he also covered an unpowered Purity, observing the Unwritten Rules," Gallant said.

"So not a complete villain," Battery said. Emily pondered for a moment if there was some bias in that statement. "Still, didn't he say he didn't like the bureaucracy? How will he take the soft sell?"

"Not good, I'd say," Emily said. "So far, his crimes are non-consensual healing and Mastering people. However, Panacea privately vouched for his healing, and his Mastering hasn't actually done anything bad. He reduced the number of non-cape gang members, lowering overall crime rates... Hell, these same ex-gang members actually surrendered to the police. This isn't the same situation as Shadow Stalker. Until he actually tries to hurt someone, we can't threaten juvenile detention."

"Maybe we can get him rating tested, at least?" Miss Militia asked. "He's at least heroic, and it doesn't seem to be against us."

"We should add some sort of incentive," Gallant added. "He probably would hate how it'd waste his time."

Assault hummed. "Tell him it would really help with coordinating efforts during a crisis. On top of that, he's still growing; it would be good to see his current limits in a safe area rather than on the field."

"Didn't we already conclude Joker has experience?" Velocity asked. "Then wouldn't he know how his powers work?"

"It's just a reason to get him here," Emily said. "It doesn't need to be that, specifically. To summarize, soft-sell Wards when you see him. We currently have a neutral relationship with him, so do not make it worse by being combative and threatening. If he does try more villainous acts, then try to defuse the situation. If he starts to use his projections, keep some distance. We don't know what other projections he has, or if he showed Raoul and Maria's full powers."

-.-

Author's Notes:

Hi there, sorry about the late upload. Truthfully, this was ready around May 8th, but I wanted to complete the next chapter before uploading this, so I have buffers. It's not done yet, but it's pretty close. I'm also getting even busier IRL, and I even picked up Honkai Star Rail to play. Penacony is really giving me final boss P5R vibes, and I'm getting another idea for it, but I'm already doing this and Devil's Messiah. Plus, I'm still really far from it, so I won't write it.